 It took me awhile to shape it and it’s not perfect, but it’s much better than paying $250 for the original.
I used silver Sculpey Accents clay, a couple of cheap metal rings (you can make the rings out of clay too), chain link, jewelry eye pins, a small swarovski crystal and silver leaf paint. Be sure to stick the eye pins into the clay before you bake it. I actually made two of these. The first one had a clear crystal and the 2nd was pink. Total investment, maybe $20.  I was lucky enough to find a pair of black boots that were already designed with the front rim higher than the back at a thrift store. I painted the front of them tan using floral spray. Never use acrylics or regular spray paint on leather or it will just crack and chip away the moment you put them on. I’ve never had a problem with floral spray, so I use it for all leather. It can typically be found in the floral section in most Joann stores.
First off, I used lots of paper to wrap around the boots while I was wearing them and then drew my patterns. Then I traced the patterns onto craft foam and cut out the pieces. After 2 coats of mod podge and 2 coats of paint, I hot glued the individual pieces onto the boots (layer by layer).  Measuring 63″ tall (exactly my height), it took 2 days to finish Yuna’s staff. I used 1/4″ thick plywood for the main staff head middle and 2mm thick craft foam to sandwich it in. The paper pattern shown in the picture is WITHOUT the blue areas. The pattern shown on the wood includes the blue areas. I used a broomstick for the staff’s base. I got lucky and bought one that’s already pointed at the end at Lowe’s hardware, but you could also sand the end of any broomstick to get the same effect.
We cut 1/4″ gap in the tip so that I could fit the staff head in between. After cutting the craft foam out, I made cuts at the bottom of the circle to fit around the broomstick (so the only thing inside the slit was the plywood.) The gold and silver rings are also made of craft foam. I might get a larger bell, but this one works for now. There’s a hole drilled at the bottom handle to thread the bell.  This is the cheapest and easiest costume piece I’ve ever made in my life. One pair of thrift-store-quality black leather boots, $10. Pink paint, $0.99. Gold sharpie marker, $1.50…and there you have it. Anna’s boots for less than $15.00! You only might consider using a pink sharpie instead of paint if you plan to wear them in the snow!  The key to making Aerith (Aeris) Gainsborough’s bracelets was layering them to give them a “stacked” look. The largest ring (closest to my hand) was made from 6mm craft foam, the middle ring was 3mm and the smallest ring was 2mm. I also added two thin strips of 2mm foam to accent the largest and middle rings.
After coating liberally with mod-podge, I painted them. Since FFVII version Aerith has silver bracelets and Advent Children’s Aerith has gold, I decided to paint them both silver and gold. The accent pieces were painted gold and the smallest ring was just painted gold at edge to give it uniformity with the other two. |
